1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicle occupant restraints. More specifically this invention relates to the load management of vehicle safety related devices, including seat back pivots, seat positioning slides, seat belt buckles, seat belt retractors collapsible steering columns and head rests.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of vehicle safety systems employing some form of load management or load limiting are well known in the prior art, however, most such load management systems or devices provide only static load management. That is, such systems or devices are designed to be effective for a specific impact force and a specific load. These systems are also designed only for particular restraints. Such systems are difficult to adapt to alternative restraint devices, thereby adversely affecting the restraint performance.
For general background material, the reader is directed to the following United States patents, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference for the material disclosed therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,198 describes an inertia reel type seat belt which allows the passenger restrained by the belt to make relatively slow movements to extend the belt from the reel but which locks the belt against further movement in the event of rapid changes in motion of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,737,197, 3,758,158 and 3,811,727 describe a seat belt anchor mechanism for a vertically movable suspension seat having a fore and aft adjustment feature that provides an anchor point for a lap belt, which is spaced from the floor and movable relative to the floor.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,224 describes a safety seat and safety cushion, which are used in combination with each other and with a safety belt as a passenger safety device for protection of a child during vehicular travel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,702 describes a safety device for protecting a vehicle occupant from injury during collision of a motor vehicle, which device includes a seat belt extending over the set portion of a seat of the motor vehicle, and a shock absorber associated with the seat belt for absorbing an energy of the vehicle occupant due to sudden deceleration of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,328 describes a seat belt or shoulder strap extending about moveable and fixed pulleys in a block and tackle configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,433 describes a deformable safety device upon which a seated passenger in a violently decelerating conveyance can loose kinetic energy by doing mechanical work.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,233 describes a shoulder harness and lap belt restraint system, which are provided wherein the lap belt is combined with the shoulder harness in such a manner that a single fastening suffices to fasten both the shoulder strap and the lap belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,272 describes a motor vehicle safety belt system that includes a switch actuated by the engagement of the driver""s safety belt and a network for starting the vehicle engine upon the actuation of the switch.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,622 describes an energy storing safety belt retractor that has a locking bar operated by an inertia response means, which includes an inertia responsive mass and a locking bar for locking with the teeth of the ratchet wheel associated with the belt winding wheel of the retractor.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,967 describes an energy dissipater for a vehicle safety belt that includes a reel on which one end of the belt is wound and anchored, the reel having two internal screw threads of opposite pitch.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,780 describes a cylinder-piston assembly of a gas-operated actuator for straining a seat belt when a vehicle encounters a collision.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,829 describes a flywheel and clutch mechanism that is adapted for use in a safety belt retractor having a vehicle-sensitive mechanism and a pawl.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,905 describes a seat belt system for a vehicle wherein one end of a seat belt for restraining an occupant is firmly engaged with one end of a steel strip, which is held and guided by an anchor member firmly attached to a vehicle body in such a way that when the impact energy acts upon the seat belt the strip may be subjected to plastic deformation at least at two positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,278 describes an energy absorbing member for a safety belt that includes a metal band that is provided with a plurality of elongated slots arranged in staggered parallel rows extending transversely to the direction of the loading of the safety belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,291 describes a safety belt reel that comprises a coil spring, a shaft on which a safety belt is stored and a variable torque device couples said spring to said shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,996 describes a shock absorber for a safety belt lanyard.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,138,157 describes an energy absorbing seat belt restraint that comprises a thin, flexible elongated element having a length substantially greater than its width and adapted for securing a wearer in a vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,530 describes a vehicle passive seat belt restraint system that includes a seat belt adapted to be positioned across and in contact with the torso of a vehicle occupant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,456 describes a passive occupant restraint system that has a track extending longitudinally inboard an occupant seat and which mounts a belt carriage which slidably receives lap and shoulder belts having their outboard ends attached to the door and their inboard ends attached to the vehicle structure forwardly of the occupant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,216 describes a floating lock mount for a seat belt retractor for application in situations where the seat or seats served by the retractor is shifted forwardly or rearwardly by the user so as to accommodate the positioning of legs and to adjust the seating to the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,448 describes a belt transfer system for a passive vehicle occupant restraint belt system that comprises a DC power source, a reversible DC motor and circuits for connecting the motor across to the power source for reversible operation and for braking the motor at the end of each operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,251 describes an apparatus for indicating the load on a restraining device subject to tensile loading, especially for a safety belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,242 describes a belt system that includes a retractor, mounted on the seat and directly involving the lap belt section, that comprises an attachment buckle connected to its anchor point by an expandable link device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,492,348 describes a locking apparatus for use with safety belts of the which are protracted and retracted on a spool, which is locked by inertia forces in an emergency.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,114 describes a flow control device for use with inflatable confinements or xe2x80x9cair bagsxe2x80x9d of vehicle occupant safety restraint systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,106 describes a passive restraint for a vehicle set that comprises a seat belt, which is designed so as to secure the security of an occupant.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,784,434 and 4,813,645 describe a vehicle seat with a suspension device having a fixed belt anchor to be joined with a seat belt and where the suspension device is adapted for absorbing a vibration or shock.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,467 describes a safety belt assembly that measures the amount of force exerted on the assembly and also the point in time when a force was exerted on the assembly.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,904,023 and 5,005,909 describe a force-limiting energy absorber for safety belt systems that comprises a series of stretch members lying one behind the other in the direction of tensile stress.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,027 describes a passive restraint enhancer for supplementing the safety of the seat belt, of the shoulder harnessing type, for minimizing or preventing injury in vehicle accidents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,193 describes a safety belt retraction apparatus that includes a safety belt retractor mechanism mounted on the vehicle door, and having a reel about which the webbing of the safety belt is wound.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,199 describes a force limiter, for use with a safety belt device, that comprises a stretch element, which is inserted into the force flow path and which under tensile load deforms in a force-limiting manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,139 describes an energy absorbing damping device for safety belts of motor vehicles, for the purpose of controlled reduction of the deceleration force which acts on the belt user in the event of a collision.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,400 describes a safety belt assembly that measures the amount of force exerted on the assembly and the point in time when a force is exerted on the assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,747 describes an electro-rheological belt load anchorage mechanism that permits a seat to be moved relative to the vehicle body to a position chosen by the occupant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,481 describes a seat belt locking device designed to temporarily modify a shoulder/lap belt occupant restraint system in a vehicle to secure a child""s restraint seat in place in the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,894 describes an automotive seat with a suspension device that has an X-shaped link mounted between an upper seat frame and a lower floor frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,010 describes a seat integrated three point seat belt system, that includes a belt having one end affixed to the seat and an opposite end mounted to a retractor secured to the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,961 describes an automotive seat assembly that has a mounting arrangement for seat belt components, which allows the fore and aft movement of the components with the seat and effects load transfer from the seat belt to the automotive vehicle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,482 describes a force limiter for safety belt restraining systems, that includes a cylinder where a rod is received, which at its one end projections out of the cylinder and at its other end defines a free space in which a plurality of roller elements are accommodated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,868 describes a self-locking safety belt reeling device that comprises a reeling arbor disposed in a belt housing, which is further provided with a spring housing attached to the belt housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,046 describes an energy converter for a safety belt that comprises a sleeve with a sleeve channel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,252 describes an anchor device for a seat belt for connecting a webbing to a vehicle, the webbing for restraining an occupant to a seat so that a load applied to the webbing is received by the vehicle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,053 describes an energy absorbing beam, constructed for use in a vehicle seat belt restraining system, that includes an energy absorbing beam which is mounted or fastened to a vehicle frame or vehicle seat frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,271 describes a dense mass safety system centrally located in a personal vehicle that acts as an inertial analog computer for predicting and compensating for the motion of an occupant of the vehicle during crashes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,564 describes a self-locking safety-belt reeling device that has a reeling shaft on which a safety belt is wound.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,756 describes a safety restraint system that comprises a safety belt system for restraining an occupant that further comprises a safety belt; a retractor; shoulder belt; a pretensioner; and a load limiter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,143 describes a load absorbing retractor that comprises a rotating spool or reel, seat belt webbing secured to the reel, and at least one movable bushing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,978 describes a vehicle seat belt system that has a plurality of sensors to sense the characteristics of a vehicle occupant and of a vehicle collision.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,091 describes a low-cost energy management device for dissipating a portion of the energy imparted to a safety belt in a rapid vehicular deceleration is comprised of a strap and a channel-shaped guide and deflector member.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,306 describes an energy absorbing seat belt retractor that comprises a frame; a spool; a lock pawl; and a movable nut.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,198 describes a vehicle occupant restraint system that includes a seat and a length of belt webbing connected with the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,807 describes a force limiter for use in a vehicle occupant restraining system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,246 describes a safety restraint system that comprises a safety belt system for restraining an occupant that includes a safety belt, a retractor, a shoulder belt, a pretensioner, and a load limiter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,603 describes a support device apparatus for a vehicle that includes a child seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,925 describes a seat belt webbing retractor that includes a spool assembly around which seat belt webbing is wound.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,700,035 describes a force limiter for vehicle safety belt systems, which is inserted in the flow path of the safety belt system by means of two fittings, the distance between the fittings being able to be increased with a conversion of energy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,722,689 describes a device for cushioning a safety belt of a vehicle, that includes a resilient member having one end secured to the vehicle and having a clamping device secured to the other end.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,293 describes a safety belt retractor, that comprises a frame, a belt reel rotatably mounted in the frame, and a rotary pretensioner drive adapted to be drivingly coupled to the belt drum.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,449 describes a seat belt device for a vehicle, which improves shock absorbing forces without reducing a space of an interior of a vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,388 describes a seat belt pillow having a web and two arms of uniform thickness in a non-compressed state.
It is desirable to provide a load management system for vehicle safety devices that provides optimal performance through a broad range of accelerations and occupant weights, during both low xe2x80x9cgxe2x80x9d and high xe2x80x9cgxe2x80x9d collision or near-collision events. Moreover it is desirable to provide a load management system that maintains its capabilities after its first use and which can cooperate with such other vehicle interior sub-systems as: seat back pivots; seat position slides; head rests; the steering column; seat belts and buckle loading at the anchor; seat belt displacement control and loading at the retractor spool.
Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which provides optimal safety system performance through a broad range of accelerations and occupant weights.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which continues to function properly after the first use.
It is another object of this invention to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which is easily adaptable to a wide variety of restraints and/or retractors.
Another object of this invention is to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which provides dynamic load management response.
A further object of this invention is to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which is specifically adapted to cooperate with other vehicle interior sub-systems, such as: seat backs, head rests, seat positioning slides, seat belt buckles, seat belt retractors, and collapsible.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which can control the amount of restraint belt displacement and loading of the seat belt retractor spool.
Another object of this invention is to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which can be triggered and managed dynamically during a collision event based upon occupant weight, excursion and belt displacement.
A further object of this invention is to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which provides optimum occupant comfort and performance during a collision event, by multiple dynamic load management techniques.
It is another object of this invention to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which employs fluidic torque conversion to manage occupant loading.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which is responsive to interior safety devices such as frontal air bags and frontal instrumentation when determining the amount of managed belt load displacement.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a vehicle restraint load management system, which can be activated or de-activated in real time or pre-set based on the conditions of contributing sensors/variables.